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​Time and tide

4/2/2019

14 Comments

 
Picture
After 10 years, the sand has stabilised and vegetation has returned behind the rock wall at Jam Jerrup. The story is very different at either end of the wall.
By Cr Geoff Ellis
​
AROUND a decade ago, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) turned the Jam Jerrup foreshore into a science experiment. The aim was to determine if a rock wall would hold back the forces of nature better than groynes or mangroves.
PictureThis photo shows where the steps used to be at Jam Jerrup. Imagine if this was Ayr Lagoon or the precious north facing beaches at Cowes.
Western Port is a complex estuarine system, so hastening slowly makes sense. As these images show, the incoming tides are now delivering a verdict but the money’s run out.

It’s a familiar story all along our Bass Coast. These images are each worth more than a thousand words. Behind the rock, the sand has stabilised and vegetation has returned. Though the rock repels tidal and storm surges, all that energy as to go somewhere and this has caused increased scouring at the end of the wall.

​From that point the exposed cliff is wearing away at the rate of two metres a year. There are 300 metres of foreshore being eroded and at some points the road, trees and powerlines are a mere 14 metres away from today’s high tide mark. Do the maths.


This is the area where the groynes, along with a sullen mangrove planting, are supposed to deflect the forces of nature. They don’t. The Lang Lang Foreshore Committee, including concerned residents of Jam Jerrup, have asked DELWP to extend the rock wall another 300 metres, starting with the critical 100m where the water remorselessly nears the road.

DWELP can’t afford to follow through on the result of their experiment so the committee has decided to allocate some of the income derived from its caravan park toward a DIY project.

To raise the $100,000 estimated cost of stage one they have also approached Bass Coast Shire and will soon be knocking on the door of the newly elected local member. In the lead-up to the federal election, they plan to take their wish list to the federal candidates for Monash too. There is even talk of an environmental levy or special charge scheme to fund works that will save the main road.

Further down the coast, at Grantville, debate about mangroves has raged for years, with some being ripped out within days of their planting. The odd plastic planter tube can still be found around the water’s edge.

The Grantville sea wall became a footpath many years ago as the water overwhelmed the concrete and washed away the earth that was meant to support the wall.

Some home owners spend their weekends re-arranging their own backyard rock and concrete walls to stave off the inundation. 

On another edge of our shire, the shifting sands of Anderson Inlet have caused the Inverloch SLSC tower to be moved three times in four years while the Ayr Creek lagoon continues to be the subject of debatable inaction.
Over at Cowes last year, sand had to be hastily added to bolster the sand dune.

In December, a couple of concerned citizens, Aileen Vening and Michael Nugent, made a presentation to council asking us to create a local climate change advisory body to try and get some co-ordinated shire and region wide action to preserve our coast.

Council has many such committees that deal with matters relating to emergency management, access and inclusion and art, to name a few. We will be re-allocating councillors to all our current committees in February.

A climate action advisory committee could, at least, become a go-to source of answers to end the ad-hocery.
Beyond the obvious, immediate concerns that Michael and Eileen raised, they also asked for a report on the impact on council’s long-term financial plans. They asked if we can afford not to take action now to reduce the burden that our children will have to bear.

One of the strategies that must come into play is greater co-ordination of the management of all our foreshores. Currently over 20 separate entities control our coastline in Bass Coast alone. Then there is South Gippsland to our east with Mornington and Cardinia to our west.

Mornington Peninsula, through its support for development of the Port of Hastings, should probably be included as a manageable threat to our blue wedge.

AGL’s lunatic plan to pump masses of cooled and chemically treated water into Western Port while drilling under Ramsar wetland, just to reach Pakenham, is the latest in a long line of existential threats that include plans to industrialise French Island (fortunately unsuccessful, so far), depleting sea grass to insulate Melbourne houses and building a container port just because there is a deep channel through one small part of the fragile eco-system.

The question that Michael and Aileen put to us was “When the current five year olds are 25, will we be able to tell them that we did everything we possibly could when we had the chance?”

Personally, right now, I’d answer no.

Picture
High tide at Jam Jerrup. Video: DELWP
14 Comments
Stefan
9/2/2019 09:06:02 am

Coasts have been eroding for millions of years man just needs to learn as he has in the past to adjust and not try and fight Mother Nature!

Reply
Geoff Ellis
9/2/2019 09:25:44 am

In high school a sage Geography teacher taught us that every thing above see level was eroding and everything below was being pushed back up on the edge of the tectonic plates - a multi- million year plus cycle.

Reply
Frank W Schooneveldt
9/2/2019 09:06:38 am

Climate change is real and the consequences are real.
The time to act is now and not to leave it to future generations. The beaches belong to the people so it is necessary that all people contribute to the cost of maintaining them. The Federal Government could introduce a special levy that is distributed to local governments to maintain the beaches etc.
In the meanwhile we could introduce parking fees at the beaches with all money raised to be used to maintain the beaches. Budgets at all levels of government must factor in climate change action.
The time to act is now.
Cheers
Frank W Schooneveldt

Reply
Cr Geoff Ellis
9/2/2019 09:32:37 am

Well said Frank and I totally agree though I'd suggest that the crisis extends into the hills where landslips, biosecurity hazards, drought, floods and all the other challenges for farmers need to be addressed.

As well as the social and physical impacts of this emerging crisis, the long term financial consequences for all levels of government, particularly local need to be planned for now.

Jam Jerrup is a great example of how a hundreds of thousands spent today could save the millions related to road closure, power line relocation and the threats to houses, farms and people,

Reply
michael whelan
9/2/2019 11:23:17 am

Frank have a look at this article reference below - a rehash of a good idea killed off by Abott. But instead of the money going to individuals it went to the community to look after those in energy cost stress and to take community initiatives to combat climate change and adapt

https://insidestory.org.au/cashing-in-on-carbon-reduction/

Reply
Frank W Schooneveldt
9/2/2019 06:50:55 pm

Thank you Michael for the information.
I am a great believer in the law of singularity.
What is the simple thing that we can do to start to fix the problems. Perhaps by increasing taxes or introducing parking fees. I have always liked the Kiss principal.
Cheers Frank W Schooneveldt

michael whelan
9/2/2019 09:31:29 am

Geoff

AGL is not the existential threat but a representative of the behaviour that has led us to one. The existential threat is represented by the totality of global warming, it rests in our inability to cooperate globally and right through to community level. It is fuelled by materialism and we are distracted by fear, evilly manipulated by self-interested politicians – Tony Abbot and Scott Morrison come to mind. It manifests in industry with coal reserves and plays out in the jobs versus the environment argument.
Adaptation measures that you mention will be important but until we tackle the burgeoning threat by reducing our emissions across the board and undertaking serious draw down of carbon we are destined for failure.

Reply
Geoff Ellis
9/2/2019 09:40:14 am

Hi Michael.

I totally agree that global emission reductions are imperative and essential and also suggest a fresh look at the definition of progress on a planet with finite resources. I have often heard the strains of Joni Mitchel's Big Yellow Taxi echoing from your side of the chamber and it's it tragic poignancy is ever more resonant.

Reply
Kevin Chambers
9/2/2019 10:04:22 am

And here's me thinking I'd be one of the first to comment on this!. Good morning to "those that have gone before me", especially Geoff** and Micheal.

As many have said, at local level its the AGL's and container port porposals are/were the immediate threat, but it's global warming that will eventually destroy the low lying parts of Western Port shorefront. Malcolm Drive Grantville will cease to exist inside ten years and the ones who will complain the loudest are every chance to be the ones who pulled out the mangrove seedlings.

So do what you can at BCSC local level, but ultimately its up to the Feds and State Govts for the ultimate solution and that's to stop burning coal for starters.

I do hope to see this occur in my lifetime but as I'm past my "3 score and 10" maybe that's hoping too much!!!

Kevin Chambers

***G. Ellis. Still waiting to set up that lunch with you up here in Melbourne!!!.

Reply
Geoff Ellis
9/2/2019 11:13:20 pm

Kev C !

The Gurdies isn't the same without you!
I well remember your "Erosion Tour of Grantville" and that tree toppling into the water as the sand washed away from it's roots. 2016 and that was a real eye-opener for me..... Have to catch up in March, eh?

Reply
Margaret Murray
9/2/2019 11:51:05 am

UP FOR DEBATE
Every time I hear people speak of climate change I ask myself the questions was it climate change that covered the land mass between Tasmania and Victoria? Was it climate change that made all the ocean disappear around the Bacchus Marsh region? The floods in Townsville, how do they know it is the worst flood that city has ever seen? What is climate change? Is it a realty or is it governed by greed. People who saw an opportunity to fool the people and make billions of dollars from it? How do we know what happened 500 or 1000 years ago when we didn’t have the industry we have now? Perhaps someone out there knows the answers.

Reply
James
9/2/2019 12:14:59 pm

I'm guessing you don't know much about nuclear fusion, black holes, genetics or how the Moon was formed but it doesn't mean scientific theories about these things are up for debate.

Reply
Geoff Ellis
10/2/2019 12:12:28 am

Spot on James - I can't explain how an electric light works - I just know when it's on, or off.

Cr Geoff Ellis
9/2/2019 05:57:59 pm

The reality for Jam Jerrup is that there is 14m between the high tide mark and the road and then another few metres to their front fences. Part of that foreshore is washing at 2m per year. It's an equation, not theory.

Reply



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